The Four Seasons Hotel: Atlanta's Only Five-Star Hotel

The Four Seasons, one of Atlanta's most luxurious hotels, is located in the city's Midtown neighborhood. It can be reached with minutes from the Interstate 75/85 Downtown Connector. The hotel is near all of Midtown Atlanta's attractions, including the High Museum and the Woodruff Arts Center, Piedmont Park, Atlantic Station, the Ferst Center for the Arts and the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The hotel's central location in the city makes it convenient to both downtown Atlanta and the Buckhead area. MARTA, Atlanta's public transit system, has a train station about three blocks from the hotel, and the area is served by several bus lines. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is 13 miles, or 25 minutes, away.

The Four Seasons is Atlanta's only Mobil Guide five-star rated hotel. Opened in 1997, the hotel has been the Atlanta standard for accommodations ever since. Mobil says, "Well-suited for both business and leisure travelers, this hotel offers its guests fine accommodations and flawless, intuitive service.'' The Four Seasons offers 226 rooms and 18 suites, all of which have been updated recently. Rooms are 450 square feet and are priced according to view. The 18 suites range in size from 900 to 2,200 square feet. All rooms include wired and wireless high-speed Internet access, CD and DVD players, fax machines by request (included automatically in suites) and luxurious terry-cloth bathrobes. The Four Seasons goes out of its way to be family-friendly; its children's amenities include small bathrobes, milk and cookies at bedtime and children's toiletry items.

The Four Seasons offers two options for dining. Its main restaurant, Park 75, is a contemporary, elegant dining experience that features American food with seasonal and local cuisines. The Park 75 Lounge and Terrace is a casual, comfortable "living room,'' offering cocktails and light fare accompanied most evenings by live piano music. The hotel's other amenities include a complimentary car service that takes guests anywhere within a six-mile radius of the hotel. An Olympic-size, indoor, saltwater pool with poolside service, the deluxe spa and a large, well-equipped fitness center offer guests relaxation, recreation and fitness.

The hotel has over 15,000 square feet of conference and meeting facilities that can host up to 450 people. The largest single available space is over 5,000 square feet; a total of twelve breakout rooms, including several conference and board rooms are convenient for smaller meetings. An outdoor terrace is frequently used for cocktail parties, and the Conference Room and Living Room on the building's 50th floor offer a residential feel for business or social occasions. Onsite planners for both meetings and social functions, including weddings, guide guests through the entire event process.

Dan Normandin, the general manager of the Four Seasons in Atlanta, is quoted in Black Enterprise as saying, "We have standards within Four Seasons to make sure the customer experiences the same high level of service at all times. ... One of the most important things to our customers is no surprises.'' On a well-known travel website, an overwhelming 82 percent of reviewers gave the Four Seasons Atlanta an "Excellent'' or "Very Good'' rating, and customer service was the most commonly mentioned attribute of the hotel. One guest said, "The staff is one of the best I have ever dealt with. Everybody ... treat[s] you like you are the only person in the hotel.'' Another calls the service "unbelievable,'' noting that the staff "called us by name the entire weekend.'' This comment, however, seemed to sum up the experience of most guests: "Absolutely everything was perfect from check-in to check-out.''